'Beauty & The Beast' Will Feature a Gay Character for Disney's Live-Action Remake

Emma Watson and Dan Stevens pose together on the cover of Attitude magazine’s April 2017 issue, in which Beauty and Beast director Bill Condon opens up about the first-ever gay moment in a Disney film.

Here is what the stars had to share with the mag:

Emma on the film’s queer sensibility: “I think it was really important actually for Dan and I to develop and understand why each of our characters feel like they don’t fit in. I certainly felt watching the original that I wanted to know more about why Belle feels that she’s different and why she wants to be different and why she’s naturally different.”

Dan on why the lead characters are so popular with gay men: “It’s about that sense of persecution. Belle is seen as a bit of a freak within her community, this girl who reads and invents things and is a bit too clever for the local Establishment. And Beast is obviously persecuted because of his appearance.”

Click inside to read about the gay moment in the film…

Bill on creating the character that experiences Disney’s first ever gay moment: “LeFou is somebody who on one day wants to be Gaston and on another day wants to kiss Gaston. He’s confused about what he wants. It’s somebody who’s just realizing that he has these feelings. And Josh [Gad, who plays LeFou] makes something really subtle and delicious out of it. And that’s what has its pay-off at the end, which I don’t want to give away. But it is a nice, exclusively gay moment in a Disney movie.”